Tried the Mesa Mark V today at Guitar Center (who amazingly had it available to try, not typical for them to carry anything in the price range.) The guitar I used was a Schecter Hellraiser C-7 with EMG 707-TW pickups. I spent nearly 2 hours with the amp, trying out every channel/mode, etc.
First impressions: amazing amp, however, I didn't like it very much for fast downtuned metal - which makes the amp useless for me. It would be incredible for classic rock, blues, and 80s metal though - the clean channel (1) is very lush and the mid-high gain channel (2) is very articulate and smooth. The reverb is by far the best guitar reverb I've heard in my life - it is absolutely EPIC.
Here's the deal - Channel 3 on Extreme mode is NOT a Dual Rec sound, as some have wrongfully attested. I've never had to turn up the gain on a Dual Rec very far at all, however on the Mark V I found myself having to keep the gain constantly cranked, and it STILL never felt heavy/saturated/brutal enough. And I am definitely NOT somebody who relies on distortion, I have a very heavy picking attack - it just wasn't giving me that "high gain" feeling. Pinch harmonics were completely weak compared to a 5150 or Dual Rec, and I felt I had to dig my pick in ridiculously hard to get it to sound its best. In "Mark IV" mode I found Channel 3 to have all the same issues, but with a warmer, more nasal voicing.
I tried every possible configuration of the switches and many different EQ settings, and I had the amp loud most of the time.
Needless to say, I was disappointed. For some reason I expected it to be the holy grail of amps, the ultimate amp - and in some ways it is that, for most of the target market of the amp. It has an absolutely amazing, refined, even beautiful character to it, with a very warm voicing even with the v-scoop enabled. It is EXTREMELY dynamic and sensitive to picking attack - probably the best amp EVER for people who want to be able to go from clean to heavy just by adjusting their picking attack. The problem is - it's actually TOO classy for br00talz.
First impressions: amazing amp, however, I didn't like it very much for fast downtuned metal - which makes the amp useless for me. It would be incredible for classic rock, blues, and 80s metal though - the clean channel (1) is very lush and the mid-high gain channel (2) is very articulate and smooth. The reverb is by far the best guitar reverb I've heard in my life - it is absolutely EPIC.
Here's the deal - Channel 3 on Extreme mode is NOT a Dual Rec sound, as some have wrongfully attested. I've never had to turn up the gain on a Dual Rec very far at all, however on the Mark V I found myself having to keep the gain constantly cranked, and it STILL never felt heavy/saturated/brutal enough. And I am definitely NOT somebody who relies on distortion, I have a very heavy picking attack - it just wasn't giving me that "high gain" feeling. Pinch harmonics were completely weak compared to a 5150 or Dual Rec, and I felt I had to dig my pick in ridiculously hard to get it to sound its best. In "Mark IV" mode I found Channel 3 to have all the same issues, but with a warmer, more nasal voicing.
I tried every possible configuration of the switches and many different EQ settings, and I had the amp loud most of the time.
Needless to say, I was disappointed. For some reason I expected it to be the holy grail of amps, the ultimate amp - and in some ways it is that, for most of the target market of the amp. It has an absolutely amazing, refined, even beautiful character to it, with a very warm voicing even with the v-scoop enabled. It is EXTREMELY dynamic and sensitive to picking attack - probably the best amp EVER for people who want to be able to go from clean to heavy just by adjusting their picking attack. The problem is - it's actually TOO classy for br00talz.
